BURNSIDE CITY COUNCIL

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD (15:12): I have a supplementary question. What measures has the minister taken, or will the minister take, to satisfy herself that a similar situation is not being played out in other local councils?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for State/Local Government Relations, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Consumer Affairs, Minister for Government Enterprises, Minister Assisting the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Energy) (15:12): I am extremely pleased to have this opportunity to talk about some of the things we are putting in place to improve the situation. We have been doing a number of things to improve both the conduct and accountability of local councils, one of which is the proposed changes to the accountability audit and the accountability of local councils. There is a series of reforms, which I would take great delight in going through in detail but, given the time of day, I will not, unless I am encouraged to do so.

The PRESIDENT: The minister could ask for an extension of time.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: I could, too; that's a possibility. We have put in place a significant number of reforms in terms of improving the accountability, reportability and transparency of local government and increasing the powers of the minister, and it goes to the very nub of the situation.

I know the Hon. Mr Winderlich will support these reforms when they come through, because one of the reforms is to increase the minister's power to intervene. The honourable member would be aware what a blunt instrument the current act is. The current act is really all or nothing in that the minister has powers to investigate. However, the only powers to intervene, other than investigation if certain breaches are identified, is to basically sack the council; there is nothing in between. It is a very crude, blunt instrument that can really be conducted only at the end of a series of problems.

One of the aspects of the reform agenda that we are looking at is to increase the powers for early intervention so that matters are able to be identified more quickly and dealt with at a much earlier stage. So, we are very much looking forward to the Hon. David Winderlich's support for those reforms.

Our office has recently introduced a series of information circulars, and they go to identifying those policy areas where we see that some councils might be struggling. It appears that there might be some confusion, or perhaps some things are not being done as well as we think they should be.

They are picked up in those guidance instruction circulars and sent out to local councils, and we have had some very good feedback in relation to those. That is another area. We also have a very good working relationship with the Local Government Association and, of course, we are always looking at programs that allow us to provide better education, support and mentorship to those councils whose performance needs to be lifted. As I said, we work very closely with the LGA on that aspect, and a number of very good initiatives have been put in place to assist councils in that way. I can provide many other examples, but at this point I am happy to leave it at that.